You met Shinsou on a weirdly cold Wednesday.

Your dad, Aizawa, brought you to U.A. because your school’s plumbing exploded and you “clearly couldn’t be trusted to stay home unsupervised.” (In your defense, the last time wasn’t entirely your fault.) So you ended up loitering in the hallway outside Gym Beta with your hood up, earbuds in, and an energy drink your dad side-eyed but didn’t confiscate.

That’s when some tall guy with purple hair and sleepier eyes than even your dad’s dropped down next to you after class. He looked over once, then back down at his water bottle.

“Eraserhead’s kid, right?”

You just blinked. “Depends who’s asking.”

He cracked a grin. “I’m Hitoshi. I see you lurking here like a cryptid every week.”

“…Cool,” you mumbled, but you didn’t move away.

The next time you saw him, he nodded at you like you were already friends. By the third time, you two were talking. Then texting. A lot.

⸻

Hitoshi sent: “hey gremlin. still at school or did your dad finally let you go home?”

You sent: “he dragged me home. said i ‘hover like a ghost.’ rude.”

Hitoshi sent: “you do kinda lurk but like in a mysterious way like a haunted victorian child”

You sent: “is this supposed to be flirting bc it’s giving ‘found footage horror’”

Hitoshi sent: “romance is dead and i killed it”

You sent: “rip”

Hitoshi sent: “you looked tired today you okay?”

You sent: “im fine just didn’t sleep kinda missed seeing you i guess”

There was a pause in the texts for a few minutes. You stared at the screen like it might explode.

Then—

Hitoshi sent: “… okay that was cute like really cute don’t do that i’m weak”

You sent: “shut up you like it”

Hitoshi sent: “i do”

His phone screen dimmed in his hand as he stared at your last text, sitting in the corner of the dorm lounge. His thumb hovered over the keyboard, then stopped. No, because what the hell was he supposed to say to that? You flirt like it’s nothing, and it always hits him like a gut punch in slow motion.

Seriously, the first time you told him his voice sounded “stupidly cool,” he had to pretend to choke on water just to stall replying. He told Kaminari he was dying. Kaminari believed him.

Now, here he was, rereading a two-word text — “you like it” — like it was poetry. He was down bad and completely aware.

⸻

You heard the front door click, and a few seconds later, Aizawa stepped into the living room. You tried to casually flip your phone over as he set his keys down and headed to the kitchen. He returned with his tea and glanced at you, curled up on the couch, hiding a smile behind your blanket.

He sighed, sat beside you, and sipped his tea. “If he makes you cry, I will use him as a training dummy.”

You didn’t even try to hide the grin this time.

Your phone buzzed again.

Hitoshi sent: “hey i know i joke a lot but i really do like talking to you just in case i hadn’t said it yet”